An air conditioning installation more particularly for being removably positioned over the sun roof or the sliding roof of a motor vehicle will typically comprise an evaporator, a condenser, a compressor and a drive device for the compressor, with those components being disposed in a common housing. The housing of that installation can be releasably fixed to the roof of the vehicle by means of easily releasable fixing elements. Those fixing elements may be of the same kind as are used for example for roof racks, carriers for surfboards, roof carriers for bicycles, ski carriers and the like. A structure of that kind can be found in DE 35 31 045 A1.
A latching device for connecting two components of a motor vehicle to elongate support surfaces, more specifically for connecting a bumper to a fender, is disclosed in DE 199 12 267 C2. The first component carries at least two and preferably more mutually spaced latching pins while the second component carries a latching bar with latching openings associated with the latching pins, to provide mutual latching engagement. The latching pins each have a pin head with a pin latching opening which can be connected thereto. The second component has through openings associated with the latching pins. The latching bar is in the form of a displaceable bar which is mounted at the rear side of the second component at least indirectly while being longitudinally displaceable in the direction of the through openings. The displaceable bar has keyhole openings which are associated with the latching pins and which are oriented in the longitudinal direction of the bar, in such a way that, in an open position of the displaceable bar, the through openings are each aligned with the wider region of a keyhole opening for passing the associated pin head therethrough while in a displaced latching position of the displaceable bar it respectively engages with the slot region of a keyhole opening, which is narrower in relation to the pin head, behind the pin head which has been passed through the component as far as the pin latching opening, and latches into the associated pin latching opening in order to form the latching connection.
Reference may also be made to DE 198 06 690 A1 describing an arrangement for fixing a component to a carrier member having at least one elongate through opening which at one end has a region involving a greater width of opening while at the other end it has a region involving a smaller width of opening. The component has at least one holding portion formed by a shank projecting perpendicularly from the component and a head which projects transversely beyond the shank. That fixing arrangement is intended to permit quick and easy figment and removal and to ensure a secure fixing effect even after a number of fitting and removal procedures. That fixing arrangement achieves those aims insofar as the component has at least one latching element formed by a loop extending transversely with respect to the shank and resiliently yielding in the longitudinal direction thereof, and a latching projection arranged at the free end of the loop and projecting away from the component in the same direction as the holding portion. The latching projection engages into an opening arranged in the carrier member at a spacing from the through openings, when the shanks of the holding portions are disposed in the regions of the through openings which are of smaller widths.
Another fixing arrangement for the roof mounting of vehicle air conditioning installations comprising at least one blower unit communicating by way of a roof aperture with an air feed shaft of the vehicle and a bottom portion which in the mounted position faces towards the roof, is to be found in DE 38 18 224 C2. Disposed between the bottom portion of the air conditioning installation and the roof structure surrounding the opening in the roof is a sealing element which extends around the roof opening and which directly forms the communication between the air conditioning installation and the air feed shaft, the flexible sealing element being compressible upon fitment of the installation. In that case a plurality of screw bolts and rubber elements serving as spacers are additionally disposed between the bottom portion of the air conditioning installation and the roof structure. The rubber elements and the screw bolts can be combined together to constitute rubber mountings.
Attention may further be directed to U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,934 B1 disclosing an assembly for mounting an air conditioning installation on a vehicle roof. The roof has a roof opening in which a frame is fitted. The air conditioning installation is mounted on the frame. A one-piece floor plate is provided in the frame while arranged on that plate is an adjustable partitioning wall which subdivides the interior of the frame into two mutually separate compartments.
Reference may also be made to DE 101 61 254 A1 disclosing an air conditioning installation in the form of a flat autonomous module which has only one energy connection for a single form of energy. The energy connection preferably involves an electrical energy connection but it may for example also involve a hydraulic or pneumatic energy connection.
Particularly when dealing with rail-mounted vehicles such as railroad vehicles, the problem arises that, to repair or replace an air conditioning installation mounted on the roof of a railroad car, it is necessary for the car to be taken into a railroad repair workshop in order for the appropriate repair procedure to be implemented there. That however involves a considerable degree of logistical expenditure.